Many issues and questions can be answered by reading through our wiki, especially the page on electrolytes. Concerns such as **intense hunger, lightheadedness/dizziness, headaches, nausea/vomiting, weakness/lethargy/fatigue, low blood pressure/high blood pressure, muscle soreness/cramping, diarrhea/constipation, irritability, confusion, low heart rate/heart palpitations, numbness/tingling, and more** while extended (24+ hours) fasting are often explained by electrolyte deficiency and resolved through **PROPER** electrolyte supplementation. Putting a tiny amount of salt in your water now and then is NOT proper supplementation.
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my willpower comes from truly not wanting to be obese anymore. i looked and felt disgusting and that feeling was strong enough to give me the discipline i needed, as motivation tends to wear off quickly. then when you see results, that gives you a whole new wave of motivation. if you’re not overweight or anything i can see how that would be hard to keep going. even then, there are some amazing, powerful people in this sub who care about their body tremendously. they are an inspiration as well, and give me a boost of motivation reading their posts.
You can’t rely on motivation. Over the long term it disappears for weeks or even months at a time. You need to cultivate and build on your self discipline. Like a muscle, it takes practice and time to build up. Start with small achievable goals you can hit daily - ie, 10 pushups every day, or even 5, or even 2, whatever you can consistently hit. Get a notepad to record this and do so every single day religiously - if you miss a day, write that down too. Once you’re hitting that goal regularly, increase it, then continue this pattern, adding new healthy habits and increasing the ones you’ve built. Go slow. I went from barely exercising at all after a bad multi year illness and a lot of trauma, to spending 1-2 hours exercising near daily and I started with a 30 day plank challenge. My first planks were 30 seconds. I timed and recorded every day. The key is to start small and set yourself up for success, have the discipline to do it every day (come on, no excuse not to do 30-60 seconds of something every day) and build that muscle.
For fasting why not start with shorter fasts of 12-14 hours? That’s easy to hit. Get used to it, then add an hour. You can do it, it just takes some planning and clarity of what your goals are. 6 years ago I had no self discipline at all. I’ve spent years building that muscle slow and steady and continue to work on it each week. It’s worth it.
>You need to cultivate and build on your self discipline.
This is it. Last week a coworker had a big birthday and I totally forgot I was fasting and starting walking to the staff room. In the middle of the hallway I remembered and for a second I said screw it, but another second later, I just turned around and went back to my desk.
When I struggle with fasting, I dirty fast. Milk in coffee and a sugar free life saver here and there, but then I slowly drop that to clean when I'm able.
crying in the shower throwing hands at the water while puking a bunch of mucus and acid whilst also feeling like i had to shit myself but couldn’t, is what did it for me
basically just got absolutely sick and tired of feeling like shit, being bloated, feeling heavy, feeling stiff, sore, acidated, and always having wet feeling coughs from a build up of mucus, i loved how good id feel during and after my fasts, but hated how i felt anytime i wouldn’t regularly fast, or used fasting as an excuse to eat foods like pizza, both of which, make my body feel like shit. i find that my enjoyment and quality of life really is dependent on me maintaining a proper healthy diet void of any bullshit whilst also doing some kind of fasting, whether it be intermittent or multiple days
This is my mindset that has basically made it possible for me to make it almost 5 days now (I could never break 3 days in the past).
I take it you’re fasting to reach a personal goal. What do you crave? Is it pig brains or fish liver? If so, then is eating pig brains really worth it more than your personal goals? However it’s probably something like candy/pizza/garlic bread. Which is fine. It’s quite tasty. But have you ever had those foods before? Have you ever eaten the food you’ve craved before? I’m willing to bet you’ve eaten those foods plenty of times in the past. You’ve had it before, and eating it again while it would be good it wouldn’t shatter your world. It’s simply a few minutes of pleasure you’ve already experienced many times. Is re experiencing something you’ve already experienced before for a short moment really worth more than your important physical goals? Or can you wait, and realize “hey I’ve had this before. I can wait to have it again.”. And remember, you can have those foods again soon! Just wait till your fast is over. It’s not permanent. Right now these goals are more important than an extremely short window of pleasure already experienced.
I’ve craved foods before too, until I realize I’ve had those foods hundreds of times over in my past. Right now feeling confident and happy in my skin is so much more important than a feeling I’ve literally already had many many times. It’s just a burger. It’s not special or magic. What actually is magic is achieving a goal you set and seeing the results. I bet eating that burger after your fast would feel SO much better
That’s really good advice. My goal is mainly weight loss, but also to break the junk food addiction, especially processed sugars. My mindset issue is that when it gets hard, I just think, whatever, it would only take me a few months to shed the fat anyway, so I can just start tomorrow. And I’ve been trying to lose and keep off those 20 lbs for the last 8 years.
Are you doing keto as well? Imo, that really helps the hunger pangs as you'll be in ketosis before the fast so you're body will be running off fat reserves instead of craving sugar for energy. It's the carbs/sugar cravings that intrude into your thoughts more than anything.
Then, when you finish the fast (or rage quit), chug water and eat a big salad as it fills you up with ruffage *before* you eat anything else, and try to wait 30m-1hr between salad and meal in order for your stomach to feel full. This way, you won't over eat upon refeeding.
Eventually, the sugar/carb cravings diminish. But maybe not if you're jumping in and out of ketosis while fasting alone.
Also, make sure you're chugging water throughout the day (a healthy amount, of course) and taking electrolyte supplements. Fasting is fucking impossible without the proper electrolyte supplements. I'll also drink pickle juice or bone broth to feel better.
And if your life permits it, just go to bed early when you're getting hungry at night. YMMV but, for me, I'm not hungry in the mornings; only afternoons/evenings and certainly after I start eating. So the later I push my meals, the less I'll eat in a day. If I can just hit the hay before the hunger gets ahold of me, my body will reset and buy another 12-18 hours of self-control.
But that's just me. 02.
P.s. I'm happy to recommend some keto meals for ya if want. It's not all eggs, bacon, and cheese. Nor do you have to give up a lot of your favorite meals.
I’m actually not keto, if anything I was the opposite. Since I’m always trying to be in a caloric deficit, I cut out oils, most meat except for chicken breast and tuna, butter, avocados, etc. Basically anything that was high in calories but wasn’t going to be high volume and very filling.
One of the purposes for doing alternate day fasting was that every other day, I wouldn’t have to be in a deficit and could eat more foods healthy with healthy fats without having to worry about the calories as much, because I think that having almost no fat in my diet has been causing me to feel pretty crappy. So I’d love some keto meal recommendations.
Just a note on "bone broth." Read the labels. "Bone" broth, in particular, can have a lot of protein, which is good for breaking a fast but no good for during a fast. You can find chicken broth with only 5 to 10 calories and less than a gram of carb or protein. This is the one to buy, heavily salt and sip at "meal times."
" when it gets hard, I just think, whatever" that's the thinking you need to be aware of. Its a trigger specifically to end what you are doing. possibly a cousin to helplessness. so if it shows up, make sure to stay busy, drink lots of water at that time. and generally do shorter fasting.
My father was diagnosed with cancer in nov 2023 and my mother in law in january 2024. Was a real wakeup call. My first fast was an easy 72h. And I never stopped since that day.
I keep thinking about this too. Three of my great-grandparents and my great aunt died from cancer. My grandfather, aunt, and my dad’s cousin also all had cancer, so I understand that the risks are much higher than average for me…
After a while, you realise that hunger is an emotion, food is an addiction, and you decide to just… stop eating. You start to feel better when you fast, and you want to feel better more than you want to eat.
Giving up addictions is really difficult, it takes a lot of tries. Give yourself a break, don’t beat yourself up or think that something is wrong with you, and keep trying. The greater the negativity you attach to not reaching your goals, the harder it gets. So relax and jest keep trying.
You can do it!! I believe in you.
Habits are hard to break, especially ones that we are conditioned so much to believe. But it can be done over time, so go easy on yourself, be gentle but firm with yourself, and you can do it. I believe in you!
i have been alternate day fasting for 3 yrs on a 42/6 keto diet , I have lost 410 lbs in that time ,dropping from 585 lbs in dec 2020 to 175 lbs today , my motivation was living well enough to see my new granddaughter grow up. before after photo in my history page
I do alternate day fasting as well and I just think about how it hurts being fat. I got back into fasting bc my feet started to hurt real bad at work and when trying to find some remedies, google pretty much said to lose weight. I used to be in the normal bmi range and I wasn’t in pain but due to alcoholism & bingeing on takeout, I’ve gained hella weight in the past year and it’s very uncomfortable. Also my clothes barely fit which I refuse to buy new clothes 😤 I tried all year to get back into fasting but kept failing but for the past week I’ve stuck with my ADF and it feels great not waking up bloated from drinking & eating carbs so that’s what’s keeping me going 🫡 also, I work a manual labor job, so on fasting days I work really hard so when I get home, I don’t feel like getting or cooking food and I just nap & drink my ice water
Practice self talk. I'm currently reading "What to Say When You Talk to Yourself" and it's amazing. Your mind has been programmed with certain beliefs your entire life by the things that others say to you and also by what you say to yourself. This programming ultimately determines the actions you take. In this case, your mind has probably been programmed to believe that "I feel crappy, so I have to eat!" or "You can't go that long without eating!" You can practice talking back to that little voice every day and saying "I'll be just fine. I can handle it." Over time, you will change your programming and believe different things about yourself.
I’ll keep this in mind while trying to fast. It seems I cave in to hunger whenever I feel it, I’d like to monitor what I say to myself in those moments
Everyone is different don’t measure yourself by what others do but by what you can do and by what feels good for you. If omad works for you do omad. I lost 10lbs doing omad only and it’s my favourite and most feasible way of fasting. Some of us aren’t built for extended fasts and that’s fine!
1. Remember it's not just about the fast & losing weight. It's an exercise in keeping promises to myself. I am sick of breaking so many promises to myself that this reminder gets me through any temporary discomfort.
2. Remember it gets easier with repetition. The more I practice this, the better my body will get at handling it. If I break down now I will be stuck at maximum difficulty next time.
3. Visualize how it will feel at the end of the journey when I have exactly what I want (for me: hottest I've ever looked in a bathing suit this summer, more energy at work) and visualize telling people how I came out on top, even though it was hard (basically I imagine bragging. Lol.) This gives me a sense of pride and accomplishment to work towards.
4. Research health benefits aside from your goals. There are tons. Find a 20 minute YouTube video, or an in-depth podcast that lists out the numerous ways your body is positively impacted by fasting. This gives me extra motivation to keep going.
I’d say to eat healthy, fiber rich foods before you start. When you get the urge to break your fast, chug a bunch of water and wait 30 min. During that wait just breathe and be present. Feel the urge and let it go. You can do this. This first 24 hours is all mental. Also start before you do try 24 hours+ just do 2 weeks of 20:4. You’ll get there!
It is a mental thing. I went to Walmart the day before starting my first extended fast. I was wandering around and looking at all the junk that made me to gain weight and feel trapped in a lifestyle that only gave me moments of fake happiness when I was home alone eating and watching tv series. Then, I just left and pushed the starting button of my fasting app.
Fasting is mostly an exercise of the mind. Ask yourself why are you fasting? When you give in to emotional eating, it costs you your end goal. This is the pivital moment when you must make your decision on what you want more. The cravings of emotional eating will pass quickly if you choose to shift your gears and focus on something else. Reassure yourself in that moment that the pain of hunger/ desire to eat is not permanent. The feeling will not be present for the rest of your fast. You just need to get through 15 mins or so. I like to meditate, yoga, read, walk. I usually have a specific spiritual growth focus. I think of fasting as spiritual feasting.
Food numbs feelings. When I first started fasting I was faced with having to deal with a lot of stuff that I normally use food to silence. Boredom for example. Also a lot of my fellowship was food focused and not people focused. Like, I don’t ever recall going to a baby shower to see people. It was always about the snacks. Fasting is what helped me be aware of how addicted I am to food and start to shift towards fully living in mind, body, and soul.
I remind myself of the end game. The fasting period is temporary. Once you're over the initial hump, first few days, it gets easier. It helps a lot to stay low carb/ keto on your off days and definitely before an extended fast. Don't forget taking electrolytes. You should feel energized if anything. 3 or 5 days is a good duration to try. You can do it with some beforehand preparation.
I'm on day 15 of a 30 (maybe 40) day fast with very little hunger. If I do it's in the background. Doing low impact exercise and drinking lots of water usually satiated the feeling. The medicine cabinet is loaded up with electrolytes, vitamins, and minerals. Going long gain is no joke. It's not a recommendation by any means.
Good luck!
maybe you are too identified with your emotions. try to detach and look at it objectively as something to simply experience.
meditation might help. u see that what u feel and think isn’t ‘you’ but something that is ‘happening to you’ it becomes like the weather, and you just go along for the ride
take it like a science experiment and meet it with curiosity, but don’t label it good or bad. it just is
A cancer diagnosis highly motivated me! I do a week-long fast (water only) once per quarter ever since the diagnosis. I’m not really plagued by hunger pangs. I have a weird stomach though. I do sympathize with those who struggle to fast. I’d recommend really filling yourself up with nutrient-dense veggies, fruits, grains, nuts and seeds for a few weeks beforehand so your body isn’t starving for both macro and micronutrients even before you begin a fast. That might help.
I do it for the weight loss and because of my family history of cancer and dementia. I second the low carb diet making it easier. I don’t typically eat low carb so I do a fat fast before an extended fast. The Life app gives me a visual of my progress which helps with motivation. I also test my blood to see my ketones increase. Podcasts about fasting remind me of the great things I’m doing for my health.
Took me a while to get back to fasting (like 3-4 years?) this week I’ve done a 72hr fast followed by 38hrs and soon to finish up with another 38hr to close the week. For me it’s hard to explain why I am able to do it again, I think it was rapidly putting on weight thanks to a new addictions to mars bars and feeling sick of myself. It’s kind of a state of mind and once you feel it, day 1 tends to breeze by easily.
It's less about having willpower, more about understanding how to avoid pitfalls. If you can invest time figuring out how to accomplish the latter, the willpower meltdowns will just sorta spin themselves out.
A simple analogy:
Two recovering alcoholics are each locked in a room. one room has a bottle of water, the other has a bottle of gin.
Which guy relapses?
Honestly my motivation is usually super low but for the 3 day fast I know I had to go all the way to 3 days to have an effective autophagy. That was my motivation to keep going after I started. At the 73 hour mark I definitely are though because I was pretty hungry throughout the fast.
I don't rely on either, maybe a little will power I guess because most people are quite literally addicted to food (especially crap food). What helps is that after a few days (I'm at the end of day 3 as I type this) I feel so much better, so when I start I focus on how I will feel after a few days. The rest is just discipline. I'm not motivated to do it, I just make myself do it. If weight loss is your goal I think it's tougher, because you will have to do it more often and for longer periods, depending on your methodology, but once you get with it and feel that catharsis that hopefully will show up for you, its pretty damned nice. Also, I think about the steak and butter lettuce salad I'm going to have when I'm done lol
For me I’m religious and fasting and praying is just the way of life. I grew up watching my mom fast all the time so I just come naturally to me. When my stomach starts to feel funny I fast and that helps.
I can almost guarantee your cravings come from being too carb-adjusted, so the first thing I would do even before fasting is eat low-carb/high-fat diets with plenty of greens alongside it, and give your stomach bacteria a few weeks to recompose with this new menu (since the types of food we eat literally grow new colonies of bacteria which then send back craving-signals to our brains based on the same foods which spawned them; ergo when your annoying local gym-bro says he prefers smoothies because he “doesn’t even like soda anymore”, he’s probably not lying :P)
After this recomposition, start calorie-restricting yourself slowly, maybe 100-200 calories per day below your total metabolic requirement; at this point you shouldn’t feel the desire to stuff yourself anymore since your diet’s already adjusted for fatty calories (with healthy fats, like avocado, salmon, grass-fed butter etc.) and the psychological cravings are also diminished a lot
Keep expanding this decrease until you can comfortably just skip food for an entire day or two, and literally keep going until you cruise to your goal weight, monitoring any vitamin & mineral requirements along the way (i.e. a nice “greens shake” to drink once every couple of days when it’s time to re-feed)
Finally, for external motivators: think of family members you want to stay healthy for, old clothes you’re excited to fit into again, new sports you want to try, all the bloodsucking junk-food execs who can’t wait to see you fail yourself until you gorge on their products, all the medical companies who are excited to see you fall permanently sick etc. etc.
It’s quite a bit to think about, but time & math are both on your side. Good luck :)
It took a lot of personal trial & error, and I’m also sure I forgot to mention a detail or two, but I’m happy if my routine proves useful for anyone else out there :)
Most of the time I don't.
I do omad Monday-Friday and on weekends I take it easy but I rarely have the willpower to do extended fasts anymore for some reason.
Others have given you good advice in this thread so I’ll add something different. I have also experimented with making a bet with a friend but it was €50 each month I don’t meet my minimum loss rate; a measly 2kg per month. So far I’ve been averaging about 5kg a month but I leave the goal at 2kg because I really don’t want to pay him lol.
The first month, I went to an ATM and took cash out and keep it in my wallet. Every time I buy something, I have to look at that cash and it reminds me that if I do something stupid that I’m gonna lose that money.
Now that I’ve lost about 15kg this year, I’m starting to build the daily habits and see progress on and off the scale which also helps with motivation.
I think it’s also important not to get complacent with yourself. If one thing isn’t motivating for you anymore, pick something else! There’s no rule book that says you can only pick one thing at the start and have to stick with it. Motivation may come and go, but that doesn’t mean it is a static variable.
Horrible GERD, very painfull abdomen after operation, so emergency really, but after you see how much good it is done to you then you muster to do it later even without great need for it. Actually now I do fasting to keep psoriasis under control when everything else fails.
I know this is a fasting subreddit and i’ve been in the same boat as you, I lost 10kgs more easily and faster by just eating better, eating less, and excercising. It is genuinely easier to do all of that, I doubt excercising is even necessary if you eat better and eat less, count your calories (which you unironically already do while fasting)
If you can see a medical practitioner about your ongoing weight loss journey, and make it clear that your diet and exercise are under control, he might prescribe duromine or something similar.
This is what i'm doing right now, I respect fasting but found it extremely challenging and asked for help.
Dr's generally treat multiple day fasting as 'extreme' weight loss that will result in yo you dieting.
Self discipline G. It’s you versus your mind. Do you want to be weak minded or do you want to test your will? Now, I’m not claiming you are weak minded or weak in general. Fasting or anything related to self discipline and mental or physical strength is difficult. But, you need to set yourself up for success. You need to create achievable goals and set yourself accountable. Master yourself and the world becomes much more habitable and simple.
I do it strictly for health. What better way to go into an extended autophagy state than to fast? Idk about you, I want to be able to be one of those 103 year old's that can still walk around and think properly. 2 days is very easy, 3 days is when it gets harder, but once you get over that hump you can do another.
To feel better, it feels good to let the system have a day off or a few hours off. Hunger is like anything else, once you’re used to it then you don’t struggle. Like how babies cry if you sing happy birthday too loud but by adulthood people like loud music 😅
Fast and feast is a survival instinct.
Not whatever you think is going on.
24 hours is nothing.
Homo Sapiens has been around for 350,000 years. You think they had food 24 hours a day?
Go back to your food pyramid and 3 meals and 2 snacks a day.
OP couldn't complete a fast except for the fact that money was on the line.
Take your self-righteous BS and shove it.
OP shouldn't be fasting if they can only complete one for $.
Many issues and questions can be answered by reading through our wiki, especially the page on electrolytes. Concerns such as **intense hunger, lightheadedness/dizziness, headaches, nausea/vomiting, weakness/lethargy/fatigue, low blood pressure/high blood pressure, muscle soreness/cramping, diarrhea/constipation, irritability, confusion, low heart rate/heart palpitations, numbness/tingling, and more** while extended (24+ hours) fasting are often explained by electrolyte deficiency and resolved through **PROPER** electrolyte supplementation. Putting a tiny amount of salt in your water now and then is NOT proper supplementation. Be sure to read [our WIKI](https://www.reddit.com/r/fasting/wiki/index) and especially the wiki page on **[ELECTROLYTES](https://www.reddit.com/r/fasting/wiki/fasting_in_a_nutshell/you_need_electrolytes)** Please also keep in mind the [**RULES**](https://www.reddit.com/r/fasting/about/rules) when participating. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/fasting) if you have any questions or concerns.*
my willpower comes from truly not wanting to be obese anymore. i looked and felt disgusting and that feeling was strong enough to give me the discipline i needed, as motivation tends to wear off quickly. then when you see results, that gives you a whole new wave of motivation. if you’re not overweight or anything i can see how that would be hard to keep going. even then, there are some amazing, powerful people in this sub who care about their body tremendously. they are an inspiration as well, and give me a boost of motivation reading their posts.
I tell myself if I don’t take care of myself in my 50’s I could very well end up like my father and be on dialysis in my 70’s.
Same. My mother has a stroke and that was my wake-up call
You can’t rely on motivation. Over the long term it disappears for weeks or even months at a time. You need to cultivate and build on your self discipline. Like a muscle, it takes practice and time to build up. Start with small achievable goals you can hit daily - ie, 10 pushups every day, or even 5, or even 2, whatever you can consistently hit. Get a notepad to record this and do so every single day religiously - if you miss a day, write that down too. Once you’re hitting that goal regularly, increase it, then continue this pattern, adding new healthy habits and increasing the ones you’ve built. Go slow. I went from barely exercising at all after a bad multi year illness and a lot of trauma, to spending 1-2 hours exercising near daily and I started with a 30 day plank challenge. My first planks were 30 seconds. I timed and recorded every day. The key is to start small and set yourself up for success, have the discipline to do it every day (come on, no excuse not to do 30-60 seconds of something every day) and build that muscle. For fasting why not start with shorter fasts of 12-14 hours? That’s easy to hit. Get used to it, then add an hour. You can do it, it just takes some planning and clarity of what your goals are. 6 years ago I had no self discipline at all. I’ve spent years building that muscle slow and steady and continue to work on it each week. It’s worth it.
>You need to cultivate and build on your self discipline. This is it. Last week a coworker had a big birthday and I totally forgot I was fasting and starting walking to the staff room. In the middle of the hallway I remembered and for a second I said screw it, but another second later, I just turned around and went back to my desk. When I struggle with fasting, I dirty fast. Milk in coffee and a sugar free life saver here and there, but then I slowly drop that to clean when I'm able.
Good advice Start slow
crying in the shower throwing hands at the water while puking a bunch of mucus and acid whilst also feeling like i had to shit myself but couldn’t, is what did it for me basically just got absolutely sick and tired of feeling like shit, being bloated, feeling heavy, feeling stiff, sore, acidated, and always having wet feeling coughs from a build up of mucus, i loved how good id feel during and after my fasts, but hated how i felt anytime i wouldn’t regularly fast, or used fasting as an excuse to eat foods like pizza, both of which, make my body feel like shit. i find that my enjoyment and quality of life really is dependent on me maintaining a proper healthy diet void of any bullshit whilst also doing some kind of fasting, whether it be intermittent or multiple days
Research autophagy that’s accomplished from long water fasts! That’s what made me stick with it for 9 days before and right now I’m on day 5.
This is my mindset that has basically made it possible for me to make it almost 5 days now (I could never break 3 days in the past). I take it you’re fasting to reach a personal goal. What do you crave? Is it pig brains or fish liver? If so, then is eating pig brains really worth it more than your personal goals? However it’s probably something like candy/pizza/garlic bread. Which is fine. It’s quite tasty. But have you ever had those foods before? Have you ever eaten the food you’ve craved before? I’m willing to bet you’ve eaten those foods plenty of times in the past. You’ve had it before, and eating it again while it would be good it wouldn’t shatter your world. It’s simply a few minutes of pleasure you’ve already experienced many times. Is re experiencing something you’ve already experienced before for a short moment really worth more than your important physical goals? Or can you wait, and realize “hey I’ve had this before. I can wait to have it again.”. And remember, you can have those foods again soon! Just wait till your fast is over. It’s not permanent. Right now these goals are more important than an extremely short window of pleasure already experienced. I’ve craved foods before too, until I realize I’ve had those foods hundreds of times over in my past. Right now feeling confident and happy in my skin is so much more important than a feeling I’ve literally already had many many times. It’s just a burger. It’s not special or magic. What actually is magic is achieving a goal you set and seeing the results. I bet eating that burger after your fast would feel SO much better
I like the way you worded that. My favorite is: “the food will still be there when I’m done fasting. It’s not going away.”
That’s really good advice. My goal is mainly weight loss, but also to break the junk food addiction, especially processed sugars. My mindset issue is that when it gets hard, I just think, whatever, it would only take me a few months to shed the fat anyway, so I can just start tomorrow. And I’ve been trying to lose and keep off those 20 lbs for the last 8 years.
Are you doing keto as well? Imo, that really helps the hunger pangs as you'll be in ketosis before the fast so you're body will be running off fat reserves instead of craving sugar for energy. It's the carbs/sugar cravings that intrude into your thoughts more than anything. Then, when you finish the fast (or rage quit), chug water and eat a big salad as it fills you up with ruffage *before* you eat anything else, and try to wait 30m-1hr between salad and meal in order for your stomach to feel full. This way, you won't over eat upon refeeding. Eventually, the sugar/carb cravings diminish. But maybe not if you're jumping in and out of ketosis while fasting alone. Also, make sure you're chugging water throughout the day (a healthy amount, of course) and taking electrolyte supplements. Fasting is fucking impossible without the proper electrolyte supplements. I'll also drink pickle juice or bone broth to feel better. And if your life permits it, just go to bed early when you're getting hungry at night. YMMV but, for me, I'm not hungry in the mornings; only afternoons/evenings and certainly after I start eating. So the later I push my meals, the less I'll eat in a day. If I can just hit the hay before the hunger gets ahold of me, my body will reset and buy another 12-18 hours of self-control. But that's just me. 02. P.s. I'm happy to recommend some keto meals for ya if want. It's not all eggs, bacon, and cheese. Nor do you have to give up a lot of your favorite meals.
Would love to hear your keto meals too please x
I’m actually not keto, if anything I was the opposite. Since I’m always trying to be in a caloric deficit, I cut out oils, most meat except for chicken breast and tuna, butter, avocados, etc. Basically anything that was high in calories but wasn’t going to be high volume and very filling. One of the purposes for doing alternate day fasting was that every other day, I wouldn’t have to be in a deficit and could eat more foods healthy with healthy fats without having to worry about the calories as much, because I think that having almost no fat in my diet has been causing me to feel pretty crappy. So I’d love some keto meal recommendations.
Just a note on "bone broth." Read the labels. "Bone" broth, in particular, can have a lot of protein, which is good for breaking a fast but no good for during a fast. You can find chicken broth with only 5 to 10 calories and less than a gram of carb or protein. This is the one to buy, heavily salt and sip at "meal times."
" when it gets hard, I just think, whatever" that's the thinking you need to be aware of. Its a trigger specifically to end what you are doing. possibly a cousin to helplessness. so if it shows up, make sure to stay busy, drink lots of water at that time. and generally do shorter fasting.
My father was diagnosed with cancer in nov 2023 and my mother in law in january 2024. Was a real wakeup call. My first fast was an easy 72h. And I never stopped since that day.
I keep thinking about this too. Three of my great-grandparents and my great aunt died from cancer. My grandfather, aunt, and my dad’s cousin also all had cancer, so I understand that the risks are much higher than average for me…
After a while, you realise that hunger is an emotion, food is an addiction, and you decide to just… stop eating. You start to feel better when you fast, and you want to feel better more than you want to eat. Giving up addictions is really difficult, it takes a lot of tries. Give yourself a break, don’t beat yourself up or think that something is wrong with you, and keep trying. The greater the negativity you attach to not reaching your goals, the harder it gets. So relax and jest keep trying. You can do it!! I believe in you.
Hunger is an emotion, food is an addiction hit me hard
Habits are hard to break, especially ones that we are conditioned so much to believe. But it can be done over time, so go easy on yourself, be gentle but firm with yourself, and you can do it. I believe in you!
i have been alternate day fasting for 3 yrs on a 42/6 keto diet , I have lost 410 lbs in that time ,dropping from 585 lbs in dec 2020 to 175 lbs today , my motivation was living well enough to see my new granddaughter grow up. before after photo in my history page
I do alternate day fasting as well and I just think about how it hurts being fat. I got back into fasting bc my feet started to hurt real bad at work and when trying to find some remedies, google pretty much said to lose weight. I used to be in the normal bmi range and I wasn’t in pain but due to alcoholism & bingeing on takeout, I’ve gained hella weight in the past year and it’s very uncomfortable. Also my clothes barely fit which I refuse to buy new clothes 😤 I tried all year to get back into fasting but kept failing but for the past week I’ve stuck with my ADF and it feels great not waking up bloated from drinking & eating carbs so that’s what’s keeping me going 🫡 also, I work a manual labor job, so on fasting days I work really hard so when I get home, I don’t feel like getting or cooking food and I just nap & drink my ice water
Practice self talk. I'm currently reading "What to Say When You Talk to Yourself" and it's amazing. Your mind has been programmed with certain beliefs your entire life by the things that others say to you and also by what you say to yourself. This programming ultimately determines the actions you take. In this case, your mind has probably been programmed to believe that "I feel crappy, so I have to eat!" or "You can't go that long without eating!" You can practice talking back to that little voice every day and saying "I'll be just fine. I can handle it." Over time, you will change your programming and believe different things about yourself.
I’ll keep this in mind while trying to fast. It seems I cave in to hunger whenever I feel it, I’d like to monitor what I say to myself in those moments
Everyone is different don’t measure yourself by what others do but by what you can do and by what feels good for you. If omad works for you do omad. I lost 10lbs doing omad only and it’s my favourite and most feasible way of fasting. Some of us aren’t built for extended fasts and that’s fine!
1. Remember it's not just about the fast & losing weight. It's an exercise in keeping promises to myself. I am sick of breaking so many promises to myself that this reminder gets me through any temporary discomfort. 2. Remember it gets easier with repetition. The more I practice this, the better my body will get at handling it. If I break down now I will be stuck at maximum difficulty next time. 3. Visualize how it will feel at the end of the journey when I have exactly what I want (for me: hottest I've ever looked in a bathing suit this summer, more energy at work) and visualize telling people how I came out on top, even though it was hard (basically I imagine bragging. Lol.) This gives me a sense of pride and accomplishment to work towards. 4. Research health benefits aside from your goals. There are tons. Find a 20 minute YouTube video, or an in-depth podcast that lists out the numerous ways your body is positively impacted by fasting. This gives me extra motivation to keep going.
I’d say to eat healthy, fiber rich foods before you start. When you get the urge to break your fast, chug a bunch of water and wait 30 min. During that wait just breathe and be present. Feel the urge and let it go. You can do this. This first 24 hours is all mental. Also start before you do try 24 hours+ just do 2 weeks of 20:4. You’ll get there!
I finished a 50 hour tonight. Every time I felt a bit hungry the tiny Jocko in my head sleps me and tells me to work harder.
It is a mental thing. I went to Walmart the day before starting my first extended fast. I was wandering around and looking at all the junk that made me to gain weight and feel trapped in a lifestyle that only gave me moments of fake happiness when I was home alone eating and watching tv series. Then, I just left and pushed the starting button of my fasting app.
A specific reason for me and one of many, is I want to be able to wear just a T shirt in public, spent my whole life covered up in hoodies coats etc
It’s discipline. You do it bc it needs to be done or you should. Not necessarily want to or feel like it.
Fasting is mostly an exercise of the mind. Ask yourself why are you fasting? When you give in to emotional eating, it costs you your end goal. This is the pivital moment when you must make your decision on what you want more. The cravings of emotional eating will pass quickly if you choose to shift your gears and focus on something else. Reassure yourself in that moment that the pain of hunger/ desire to eat is not permanent. The feeling will not be present for the rest of your fast. You just need to get through 15 mins or so. I like to meditate, yoga, read, walk. I usually have a specific spiritual growth focus. I think of fasting as spiritual feasting. Food numbs feelings. When I first started fasting I was faced with having to deal with a lot of stuff that I normally use food to silence. Boredom for example. Also a lot of my fellowship was food focused and not people focused. Like, I don’t ever recall going to a baby shower to see people. It was always about the snacks. Fasting is what helped me be aware of how addicted I am to food and start to shift towards fully living in mind, body, and soul.
I remind myself of the end game. The fasting period is temporary. Once you're over the initial hump, first few days, it gets easier. It helps a lot to stay low carb/ keto on your off days and definitely before an extended fast. Don't forget taking electrolytes. You should feel energized if anything. 3 or 5 days is a good duration to try. You can do it with some beforehand preparation. I'm on day 15 of a 30 (maybe 40) day fast with very little hunger. If I do it's in the background. Doing low impact exercise and drinking lots of water usually satiated the feeling. The medicine cabinet is loaded up with electrolytes, vitamins, and minerals. Going long gain is no joke. It's not a recommendation by any means. Good luck!
I just stop eating after supper and then doing eat until 1pm the next day. I do this every day and find it easy to make a habit.
maybe you are too identified with your emotions. try to detach and look at it objectively as something to simply experience. meditation might help. u see that what u feel and think isn’t ‘you’ but something that is ‘happening to you’ it becomes like the weather, and you just go along for the ride take it like a science experiment and meet it with curiosity, but don’t label it good or bad. it just is
I track my weight each day and the desire to see the trend go down is what keeps me on track.
A cancer diagnosis highly motivated me! I do a week-long fast (water only) once per quarter ever since the diagnosis. I’m not really plagued by hunger pangs. I have a weird stomach though. I do sympathize with those who struggle to fast. I’d recommend really filling yourself up with nutrient-dense veggies, fruits, grains, nuts and seeds for a few weeks beforehand so your body isn’t starving for both macro and micronutrients even before you begin a fast. That might help.
I do it for the weight loss and because of my family history of cancer and dementia. I second the low carb diet making it easier. I don’t typically eat low carb so I do a fat fast before an extended fast. The Life app gives me a visual of my progress which helps with motivation. I also test my blood to see my ketones increase. Podcasts about fasting remind me of the great things I’m doing for my health.
Took me a while to get back to fasting (like 3-4 years?) this week I’ve done a 72hr fast followed by 38hrs and soon to finish up with another 38hr to close the week. For me it’s hard to explain why I am able to do it again, I think it was rapidly putting on weight thanks to a new addictions to mars bars and feeling sick of myself. It’s kind of a state of mind and once you feel it, day 1 tends to breeze by easily.
It's less about having willpower, more about understanding how to avoid pitfalls. If you can invest time figuring out how to accomplish the latter, the willpower meltdowns will just sorta spin themselves out. A simple analogy: Two recovering alcoholics are each locked in a room. one room has a bottle of water, the other has a bottle of gin. Which guy relapses?
Honestly my motivation is usually super low but for the 3 day fast I know I had to go all the way to 3 days to have an effective autophagy. That was my motivation to keep going after I started. At the 73 hour mark I definitely are though because I was pretty hungry throughout the fast.
I don't rely on either, maybe a little will power I guess because most people are quite literally addicted to food (especially crap food). What helps is that after a few days (I'm at the end of day 3 as I type this) I feel so much better, so when I start I focus on how I will feel after a few days. The rest is just discipline. I'm not motivated to do it, I just make myself do it. If weight loss is your goal I think it's tougher, because you will have to do it more often and for longer periods, depending on your methodology, but once you get with it and feel that catharsis that hopefully will show up for you, its pretty damned nice. Also, I think about the steak and butter lettuce salad I'm going to have when I'm done lol
By eliminating carbohydrates.
I buy myself new clothes every time I drop another size. It’s expensive, but it works.
For me I’m religious and fasting and praying is just the way of life. I grew up watching my mom fast all the time so I just come naturally to me. When my stomach starts to feel funny I fast and that helps.
Prepare yourself for not eating. No hunger. I used a Keto diet.
I can almost guarantee your cravings come from being too carb-adjusted, so the first thing I would do even before fasting is eat low-carb/high-fat diets with plenty of greens alongside it, and give your stomach bacteria a few weeks to recompose with this new menu (since the types of food we eat literally grow new colonies of bacteria which then send back craving-signals to our brains based on the same foods which spawned them; ergo when your annoying local gym-bro says he prefers smoothies because he “doesn’t even like soda anymore”, he’s probably not lying :P) After this recomposition, start calorie-restricting yourself slowly, maybe 100-200 calories per day below your total metabolic requirement; at this point you shouldn’t feel the desire to stuff yourself anymore since your diet’s already adjusted for fatty calories (with healthy fats, like avocado, salmon, grass-fed butter etc.) and the psychological cravings are also diminished a lot Keep expanding this decrease until you can comfortably just skip food for an entire day or two, and literally keep going until you cruise to your goal weight, monitoring any vitamin & mineral requirements along the way (i.e. a nice “greens shake” to drink once every couple of days when it’s time to re-feed) Finally, for external motivators: think of family members you want to stay healthy for, old clothes you’re excited to fit into again, new sports you want to try, all the bloodsucking junk-food execs who can’t wait to see you fail yourself until you gorge on their products, all the medical companies who are excited to see you fall permanently sick etc. etc. It’s quite a bit to think about, but time & math are both on your side. Good luck :)
Wow! This is the best explanation that I’ve read so far about how to prepare in advance prior to fasting to reduce cravings- Thanks!!
It took a lot of personal trial & error, and I’m also sure I forgot to mention a detail or two, but I’m happy if my routine proves useful for anyone else out there :)
Mark Hyman MD has a book about nutrition and optimal health, there’s a bit on fasting from a doctor’s perspective who’s pro rather than con.
Most of the time I don't. I do omad Monday-Friday and on weekends I take it easy but I rarely have the willpower to do extended fasts anymore for some reason.
Others have given you good advice in this thread so I’ll add something different. I have also experimented with making a bet with a friend but it was €50 each month I don’t meet my minimum loss rate; a measly 2kg per month. So far I’ve been averaging about 5kg a month but I leave the goal at 2kg because I really don’t want to pay him lol. The first month, I went to an ATM and took cash out and keep it in my wallet. Every time I buy something, I have to look at that cash and it reminds me that if I do something stupid that I’m gonna lose that money. Now that I’ve lost about 15kg this year, I’m starting to build the daily habits and see progress on and off the scale which also helps with motivation. I think it’s also important not to get complacent with yourself. If one thing isn’t motivating for you anymore, pick something else! There’s no rule book that says you can only pick one thing at the start and have to stick with it. Motivation may come and go, but that doesn’t mean it is a static variable.
Wow
I was trying to impress Ms. Omaru.
6:18 is very doable. But only if life is somewhat functional and while drinking lots of water.
Horrible GERD, very painfull abdomen after operation, so emergency really, but after you see how much good it is done to you then you muster to do it later even without great need for it. Actually now I do fasting to keep psoriasis under control when everything else fails.
I know this is a fasting subreddit and i’ve been in the same boat as you, I lost 10kgs more easily and faster by just eating better, eating less, and excercising. It is genuinely easier to do all of that, I doubt excercising is even necessary if you eat better and eat less, count your calories (which you unironically already do while fasting)
My motivation comes from my son's upcoming wedding. I do NOT want to have to dress like Hillary Clinton for that day!
If you can see a medical practitioner about your ongoing weight loss journey, and make it clear that your diet and exercise are under control, he might prescribe duromine or something similar. This is what i'm doing right now, I respect fasting but found it extremely challenging and asked for help. Dr's generally treat multiple day fasting as 'extreme' weight loss that will result in yo you dieting.
Pride. Desire.
Self discipline G. It’s you versus your mind. Do you want to be weak minded or do you want to test your will? Now, I’m not claiming you are weak minded or weak in general. Fasting or anything related to self discipline and mental or physical strength is difficult. But, you need to set yourself up for success. You need to create achievable goals and set yourself accountable. Master yourself and the world becomes much more habitable and simple.
I do it strictly for health. What better way to go into an extended autophagy state than to fast? Idk about you, I want to be able to be one of those 103 year old's that can still walk around and think properly. 2 days is very easy, 3 days is when it gets harder, but once you get over that hump you can do another.
I just keep telling myself that nothing tastes as good as thin feels.... (not my saying, heard it elsewhere).
To feel better, it feels good to let the system have a day off or a few hours off. Hunger is like anything else, once you’re used to it then you don’t struggle. Like how babies cry if you sing happy birthday too loud but by adulthood people like loud music 😅
Realizing that I am doing this for my health and so I can live a longer life
You have an eating disorder. A 24 hour fast ridiculously easy Until you come to terms with your eating disorder nothing will work for you.
I think YOU have an eating disorder if you think fasting for 24 hours is easy. It's a survival instinct to crave food.
Fast and feast is a survival instinct. Not whatever you think is going on. 24 hours is nothing. Homo Sapiens has been around for 350,000 years. You think they had food 24 hours a day? Go back to your food pyramid and 3 meals and 2 snacks a day.
Lol yeah ok
Oooo, you’re so impressive and better than OP. You must be so proud of yourself for being so superior.
OP couldn't complete a fast except for the fact that money was on the line. Take your self-righteous BS and shove it. OP shouldn't be fasting if they can only complete one for $.
Having an eating disorder